A recent report from Morgan Stanley has revealed that the price objective for Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) has been reduced from $116.00 to $115.00. Despite this downgrade, the firm still maintains an equal weight rating on the stock.
This news comes following the opinions of several other research firms on MRK. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an overweight rating and set a price target of $135.00, while BMO Capital Markets increased their price target from $102.00 to $113.00. StockNews.com also assumed coverage on Merck & Co., Inc., issuing a buy rating on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and set a price target of $122.00.
Currently, five equities research analysts have placed a hold rating on the stock, while fifteen have given it a buy rating. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $124.68.
Shares of MRK stock opened at $104.01 on Wednesday, with a fifty-day simple moving average of $106.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.28, and a quick ratio of 1.03. Merck & Co., Inc. has a market capitalization of $263.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.25, a PEG ratio of 4.11, and a beta of 0.34.
Merck & Co., Inc. recently announced quarterly dividend payments. Shareholders of record on September 15th received a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date was September 14th, and the annualized dividend is $2.92, resulting in a yield of 2.81%. The company’s payout ratio is 239.34%.
In terms of insider trading, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,250 shares of MRK stock on August 14th. The average sale price was $109.01, totaling $463,292.50. Following this transaction, Mizell now owns 22,935 shares in the company.
Institutional investors have also made adjustments to their holdings of Merck & Co., Inc. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased their holdings by 102,675.5% in the second quarter, while State Street Corp lifted its holdings by 1.9% in the same period. Wellington Management Group LLP reported a 10.6% increase in holdings during the first quarter, and Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings by 2.9% in the second quarter. Morgan Stanley also increased its holdings by 10.6% in the fourth quarter.
Merck & Co., Inc. operates as a healthcare company, with two segments: Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers various human health pharmaceutical products, including those for oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes. They also provide a range of vaccine products for preventive use.
Overall, despite the price objective reduction, Merck & Co., Inc. continues to garner positive attention from analysts and maintains a strong position in the healthcare industry.
Definitions:
– Price objective: A price level that an analyst or investor believes a security will reach within a certain time frame.
– Moving average: Calculated by adding the last closing prices for a specified number of time periods and then dividing the sum by the number of time periods.
– Debt-to-equity ratio: A measure of a company’s financial leverage, calculated by dividing its total liabilities by shareholders’ equity.
– Current ratio: A liquidity ratio that measures a company’s ability to pay short-term obligations, calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities.
– Quick ratio: A stricter measure of liquidity than the current ratio, excluding current assets that are difficult to convert into cash quickly, such as inventory.
– PEG ratio: A valuation metric for determining the relative trade-off between the price of a stock, the earnings generated per share, and the company’s expected growth rate.
– Beta: A measure of a stock’s risk in relation to the overall market.
– Dividend: A payment made by a corporation to its shareholders, usually in the form of cash or additional shares of stock.
– Payout ratio: The proportion of earnings paid out as dividends to shareholders.
– Ex-dividend date: The first date on which a stockholder is no longer entitled to receive the next dividend payment.
– Insider trading: The buying or selling of a security by someone who has access to material, non-public information about the security.
– Institutional investors: Organizations that pool large sums of money to be invested in various financial instruments or portfolios.
– Market capitalization: The total value of a company’s outstanding shares of stock, calculated by multiplying the current stock price by the number of shares outstanding.
Sources:
– Benzinga
– MarketBeat.com